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The Calgary Flames' season was hanging by a thread when they faced the Kings at Staples Center on Dec. 22. After a strong start, the Flames had fallen into an 0-7-1 slump, the kind of frustration that challenges players' character, belief and patience. Then three points behind the Kings in the West, the Flames could have fallen apart. Instead, led by team captain Mark Giordano and an energetic corps of forwards, they stuck together and rallied for a 4-3 overtime victory, changing the course of their season. The Flames led the Kings for the final wild card playoff spot before the teams met again Monday and Calgary stayed ahead by rallying for a 2-1 overtime victory. “The...

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The Calgary Flames' season was hanging by a thread when they faced the Kings at Staples Center on Dec. 22. After a strong start, the Flames had fallen into an 0-7-1 slump, the kind of frustration that challenges players' character, belief and patience.
...

The Kings' seven-game victory over Chicago in the Western Conference finals was so thrilling and emotionally draining — and that's just to watch — it might have set a new standard for playoff excellence. Simply put, it was fabulous hockey.
“That's what...

Max Pacioretty lifted the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night into the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a power-play goal with 43 seconds remaining for a 4-3 victory and a four-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The first team to advance...

NEW YORK — Dominic Moore scored in the second period, Henrik Lundqvist bounced back from his worst performance in the playoffs and the New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 1-0, on Thursday night to advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
The Rangers...

Teams that won the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final have gone on to win the series 25 of 26 times. Will the Kings make it 26 for 27 Friday night at Staples Center against the New York Rangers?
A sixth game, if necessary, would be played on...

After becoming the first team to reach the Stanley Cup Final by winning three series in Game 7, all on the road, the Kings' five-game series victory over the New York Rangers to win the Stanley Cup almost seemed abrupt — except that all three games at the...

Will the nickname — Mr. Game 7 — find its way into deep storage for the summer months and get packed away, perhaps to be unveiled in future postseasons?
Kings right wing Justin Williams summoned his late-series magic and brought it out uncommonly early...

Staples Center was so quiet, you could have heard a tooth drop. The Kings looked so exhausted, it was if they were skating through a natural nightmare.
"Sometimes … it's quicksand," said Trevor Lewis.
That was Wednesday's Game 1 of the Stanley...

The New York Rangers circled around defenseman Dan Girardi on Thursday after the reliable protector of goalie Henrik Lundqvist made the turnover that set up the overtime loss to the Kings in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final.
"Our group believes so...

The Kings and the New York Rangers might make a change in their defense corps for Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, to be played Saturday at Staples Center.
Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said Friday that defenseman Robyn Regehr "will probably...

The tipping point in the Stanley Cup Final very well could be which premier defenseman can most effectively continue his inspired postseason run.
Like the Kings' Drew Doughty, the New York Rangers' Ryan McDonagh is listed at 6 feet 1, 213 pounds. Each is...

The Kings not only want to take a 2-0 Stanley Cup Final lead back to New York with them Sunday, but they also want New Yorkers to have a hint of what it’s like to be inside Staples Center.
The Kings purchased video-board advertising in Times...

The New York Rangers’ hope is that playing in front of their home crowd Monday in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at Madison Square Garden will provide the same advantage to them that the Kings relied upon in grinding through Game 1 overtime and Game 2...

The New York Rangers continued to dwell on the little breaks the Kings are receiving, but they again mustered no sufficient response except for post-loss explanations.
"At some point, you're going to have to need some puck luck and we don't have any...

Say goodbye to those loose, high-scoring, defense-challenged impostors. That particular Kings team living on the brink, the playoff edge, needing overtime in three straight games.
They were such fun to have around.
That gut-wrenching version of the...

While the Kings' leading scorers continued their personal race to finish as the NHL's playoffs points leader Monday, center Mike Richards pulled out of an extended drought.
Richards sent a puck toward teammate Trevor Lewis early in the third period...

Grumpy and sullen? For sure.
Beaten? Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final will reveal that.
The New York Rangers practiced Tuesday at Madison Square Garden, but their activity couldn't hide the fact that they trail the Kings, 3-0, with elimination staring at...

Symmetry took the night off.
It could have been such a tidy completed hockey circle, two Stanley Cups clinched by the Kings exactly two years apart. But the Kings will have to wait two more days to get another shot at winning their second Stanley Cup.
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